Joined: Fri May 25th, 2007, 20:56 GMTPosts: 1496Location: New York City

BostonAreaBobFan wrote:

I'm not entirely shocked by this new change. Duke's an established act in his own right. He leads his own band (and fronted others) and he's an older, seasoned musician. He's wasn't gonna let himself be on the end of Bob's dirty looks in front of an audience. Totally understandable if you look at it from his point of view.

Still, I was really looking forward to seeing Duke again at the shows I'll be attending. Bummer....

I think I'll hold a sign up at the Saratoga show that says, DUKE!!!!

Do it, Boston! I'm sad because I was looking forward to more from Duke too, but if he left because of being stifled, I do say respect to Duke. What drama!

How many band leaders can there be? If dylan being band leader is stifling then that's the guitarists problem, but who knows, could be that Duke couldn't keep up. A good boss teaches new employees how to do good work, but I think a band leader is different.

How many band leaders can there be? If dylan being band leader is stifling then that's the guitarists problem, but who knows, could be that Duke couldn't keep up. A good boss teaches new employees how to do good work, but I think a band leader is different.

If he "couldn't keep up" he would have been dropped after the spring tour. This seems to be a different sort of falling out.

Long shot but could it also have anything to do with the published interview Duke gave recently? I know it was very complimentary but there was a bit more detail In there concerning musical changes Bob has gone for this year and I don't offhand recall current band members freely offering up a commentary like this while still on tour with him?

Robillard"s playing with Dylan was not THAT exeptional and it was not a huge step forward for the band. Apparently he also did not mesh with the band. Plus he posted behind the scenes stuff from the tour on the internet and talked about the job in an interview with the tour still in progress. I am not the biggest Charlie fan, but given all of the above, I am glad Robbilard is out and Charlie is back in. What is Freddy doing at the moment?

Long shot but could it also have anything to do with the published interview Duke gave recently? I know it was very complimentary but there was a bit more detail In there concerning musical changes Bob has gone for this year and I don't offhand recall current band members freely offering up a commentary like this while still on tour with him?

Dylan is the band leader and has a band sound in mind. The sound Dylan is looking for is one which does not promote the all too typical "B.B. King shit." People who are interested in Allman Brothers blues,or '70s guitar rock have plenty of outlets. There are probably four or five bars in any decent sized town where local bands indulge their forty year old fantasies of recreating the sound of Lou Reed's or David Bowie's awful '70s live albums. When you see a fan mention Dylan's "three note solos" it's an indication that fan has no feel for what Dylan is doing. He isn't "soloing" he's playing rhythm with single notes rather than strummed chords. He's not looking to step out and play a solo, he's looking to create a groove, and that does not involve any of the players taking a solo. I can't say what happened with Dylan and Duke. I thought they meshed extremely well in the Spring. The new tour leg hasn't yielded any decent audio, so I've no idea what happened to cause things to fall apart so fast. Dylan had always been a big supporter of Duke, recall that Duke was one of "Dylan's guys" brought in over the objections of Lanois on TOOM. I would have thought based on the Spring leg as well as Duke's age and experience he would have full understanding of his role. The idea a musician would feel restrained in Dylan's band would logically only apply to some young kid with bad taste who was trying to impress a cute girl in the front row. To play in the style Dylan is looking for would be more challenging and present more opportunity for nightly "in the moment" interplay as the musicians have to pay close attention and react to subtle shifts. What would be a lot easier would be to simply go up there and start recycling a bunch of pointless "guitar-god" licks. That would be the easy thing to do, not the interesting or challenging thing to do.

Interesting post Pat even if I do disagree with pretty much everything you say! Dylan may well be trying to create a groove, but when you hear fans complaining about Dylan's three note solos it is because they sound horrendous. A lead guitar could do exactly the same, and at least hit the notes cleanly. Dylan's guitar tone is also awful, unless you like atonal noise.Similarly anyone forced to play Dylan's, largely, three chord songs in a basic style would feel restricted. Robbie Robertson wasn't trying, 'to impress a cute girl in the front row', or at least I don't think he was but he was one of the best Dylan guitar players, and I'm pretty sure Dylan DID NOT tell him what to play.The truth is Dylan, despite all his years of experience, does not know it all and would benefit from the musical input of others, if he ever allowed it.

Forget Charlie/Duke - Bob's regular voice (meaning except for the annoying bark at the end of alternating lines) - sounds great. I mean, it really sounds like early 2000s. If static setlists means he carefully sings songs again, I'm for any guitarist.

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